Michael Van Canneyt a écrit :
Assuming that we are actually infringing on any patents (which I don't believe):
It perfectly sums up the problem : you don't believe. But you cannot know. The only way to know whether a software is infringing a patent is to publish this software and to wait for the attack of a patent holder. It is impossible to read all the descriptions of patents published by PTO's. There are too much of them (any triviality you can think of is already patented, to get a software patent it is sufficient to pay). Moreover, they are written in a IP lawyer dialect, i.e., not understanble for an ordinary human being. Now, if you think Lazarus and FPC are not infringing some patents, think twice. An example? The dialogue box "Compiler options" in Lazarus. This is a tabbed notebook. Have a look at http://webshop.ffii.de/index.en.html Particularly, the patent EP #689533. Bonus: At the bottom of the page there is a picture of the famous Frits Bolkestein. Yes, he also worked on patent softwares. In the pro camp, of course. We are living in coherent world. mm _________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe: mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as the Subject archives at http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailarchives
